Images: 
Carrie Hitchcock; Photo: Ross Zentner
Cassandra Bissell; Photo: Ross Zentner
Total Rating: 
**1/2
Opened: 
September 24, 2021
Ended: 
October 17, 2021
Country: 
USA
State: 
Wisconsin
City: 
Milwaukee
Company/Producers: 
Next Act Theater
Theater Type: 
Regional
Theater: 
Next Act Theater
Theater Address: 
255 South Water Street
Phone: 
414-278-0765
Website: 
nextact.org
Running Time: 
90 min
Genre: 
Drama
Author: 
Jeffrey Hatcher
Director: 
Edward Morgan
Review: 

In its first post-pandemic performance, Milwaukee’s Next Act Theater returns to familiar territory. The company is reviving Jeffrey Hatcher’s Three Viewings, which it first offered to audiences in 1997. Director Edward Morgan guides the current production; in doing so, he creates a moving portrait of small-town midwestern life.

The three monologues that comprise Three Viewings are all set in the same funeral parlor. The show’s overall feeling, however, is far from funereal. Bursts of humor erupt from the anecdotes told by these quirky characters. Other moments in the play are quietly touching, and sometimes shocking. It is impossible to predict where the conversation will lead. < p> The cast of Three Viewings has a long history with the company, and with the Milwaukee theater community itself. Next Act founder and artistic director David Cecsarini kicks off the show with a finely tuned impression of a sensitive funeral director who tries to attract his love interest’s attention in a most unusual way. Actor Cassandra Bissell follows as a jewelry thief who hopes to filch a family heirloom. Finally, Milwaukee native Carrie Hitchcock appears as a widow who must come to terms with her deceased husband’s “wheelings and dealings” before they threaten to bankrupt her.

Each monologue is presented as an exquisitely polished vignette. The actors’ movements and gestures tend to be minimal, as befits the theater’s intimate space. Morgan gets a heightened sense of reality out of the cast, to the point where one almost has the urge to pull up a seat beside each actor to more closely hear the spellbinding tale. The play runs 95 minutes without an intermission.

Noted playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, who also has many screenplays and TV scripts to his credit, is no stranger to Milwaukee audiences, either. In 2000, the Milwaukee Repertory Theater presented the world premiere of Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright, written by Hatcher and Eric Simonson. Some of Hatcher’s other plays have been featured around town over the years.

One reason company members decided to open their 32nd season with Three Viewings is the solo aspect of monologues. According to artistic director Cecsarini, “Monologues offer safer conditions (regarding Covid) during rehearsal.” He adds that audiences might also feel safer in the presence of a small cast. The company has added other safety measures, such as reducing capacity to 50 percent and improving the space’s air filtration systems. Audiences are required to be masked and vaccinated (proof of vaccination required); the same goes for staff and volunteers.

So as not to overwhelm the individual actors, set design for Three Viewings has been kept to a minimum (set and lighting design by Jason Fassl). A series of carpeted platforms display furniture from a funeral home office and waiting room. A wooden desk and chair sit on one platform, and an upholstered easy chair dominates another. Each character wears appropriate attire by costume designer Amy Horst.

Cast: 
David Cecsarini (Emil), Cassandra Bissell (Mac), Carrie Hitchcock (Virginia).
Technical: 
Set and Lighting: Jason Fassl; Costumes: Any Horst; Sound: David Cecsarini.
Critic: 
Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed: 
September 2021